Tuiles

I'm not sure what made me decide to make these, but I do remember that I have a bunch of egg whites that needed to be dealt with and I didn't feel like making macarons.

So, I looked through my baking books and this one seemed easy enough.  I had some recollection of what these cookies tasted like, it's like one of those childhood kind of taste.

Before we begin, a word about "sifted flour" and "flour, sift in".  The difference is that "sifted flour" is measured after you've sifted it, so it's a bit more airy and loose.  "Flour, sift in" is you measure the amount, then sift into your batter also creating a light and loose flour.  The main difference becomes that actual volume you put in, sifted flour will have a larger volume by weight since it is fluffed up.  Or if you baking by volume, sifted flour will be lighter than unsifted in the same volume.

Also, feel free to substitute vanilla extract for flavours like orange or lemon zest, etc.

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Tuiles (pron. "tweel")

Adapted from Art and Soul of Baking by Sur la Table

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup sifted cake flour

2 large | 60 g egg whites

3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

4 tbsp | 57 g unsalted butter

1. Blend the sugar and cake flour together

2. Whisk in the egg whites and vanilla until well blended, no need to fluff up the egg whites

3. Melt the butter and whisk it in until smooth, you will get a thin batter.

4. Optional, refrigerate the batter for 30 minutes to stiffen it up, or use right away if it's not too thin to work with.

Stiffened batter

5. Preheat the oven to 350F and rack in the center

6. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper or silicon mat

7. Drop the batter by the tablespoonful and spread it out using an offset spatula, or back of a spoon to spread into rounds using circular motion, about 4 inches in diameter.  Spread circles of batter should be very thin but not see through

8. Leave a little bit of space and drop another tablespoonful to spread the batter until baking sheet is full.  This batter does not spread during baking.

9. Bake for 7-9 minutes until the edges are golden brown but the center is still pale

10. Remove from oven and quickly peel the tuiles with a spatula if you wish to shape it.  You can lay the tuiles on a rolling pin, or wrap it around the handle of a wooden spoon to make cigarettes, drape it over a bowl, etc.  But work quickly as the tuiles will set almost instantly

I was a little too late to try and wrap this one tightly, it decided to set halfway through

11. Allow the baking sheet and silicone mat to cool completely if reusing for another batch

12. Let tuiles cool completely and store in airtight container

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I don't know what the average yield a batch of these are, as Meow usually eats a good dozen while baking, Mr. Meow is also an accomplice.  And these never lasts long enough to go stale in my house, usually gone in 2-3 days.

You can use these to decorate ice cream sundaes, serve treats on them...or like Meow, eat them as is.

You can also prepare the batter up to 5 days ahead and stored in the refrigerator and only bake them the day you are serving them, to avoid cookies going soft due to moisture.

Variation: use a 3 tablespoons of batter to 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder to create chocolate tuiles.